HOME OF ROY MOORE ACCUSER BURNED TO THE GROUND IN SUSPECTED ARSONPublished: January 6, 2018

SOURCE: RT

The home of a woman who accused Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual harassment has burned down in what is being investigated as a possible arson attack.Tina Johnson, who alleged in November that Moore groped her in his office in 1991, said Friday that her house in Gadsden, Alabama had burned down on Tuesday morning. None of the family were home at the time of the fire.The local fire department extinguished the blaze, but Johnson says her home and all of her belongings are destroyed. “I am devastated, just devastated,” Johnson told AL.com Friday morning. “We have just the clothes on our backs.”The fire is now “under investigation by the Etowah County Arson Task Force” and “investigators are speaking to a person of interest,” according to a statement released by the department.The statement was later updated to clarify that “the ongoing investigation does not lead us to believe that the fire is in any way related to Roy Moore or allegations made against him,” and adding that “more details will be released when warrants are obtained.”

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Moore, the Republican nominee in Alabama’s special election and former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme court, was backed by US President Donald Trump, despite nine women coming forward in November with allegations of sexual misconduct, assault, and molestation.One woman, Leigh Corfman, alleged that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s.In December, Moore lost the Senate race to Democrat Doug Jones, in what was considered a shock victory. Moore initially refused to concede defeat, claiming voter fraud influenced the outcome. An Alabama judge eventually ruled against Moore’s move to prevent the certification of Jones, who was sworn in on Wednesday.

CHINA TO BUILD SECOND FOREIGN NAVAL BASE, THIS TIME IN PAKISTANPublished: January 5, 2018

SOURCE:SPUTNIK NEWS

China is planning to build its second foreign naval base in Pakistan following the ribbon cutting ceremony for its first overseas base in Djibouti last July.Sources close to the People’s Liberation Army have confirmed to the South China Morning Post that a Chinese naval port is being built at a strategic location on Pakistan’s southern coast.“China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port,” Zhou Chenming, a Chinese military analyst, told the South China Morning Post on Friday. “Gwadar port can’t provide specific services for warships,” Zhou said; hence the need for a new base.Gwadar is less than 50 miles east of the Pakistan-Iran border and sits in Balochistan Province, where fiercely independent Baloch nationalists have waged guerrilla wars against both the Pakistani and Iranian governments. “Public order there is a mess,” Zhou said.“China and Pakistan have found common ground in terms of maritime interest in the region,” Pakistani analyst Sheikh Fahad says. “Gwadar port can be used for joint naval patrols in the Indian Ocean, further increasing the naval outreach of China and Pakistan in the region. Gwadar port will increase the countries’ naval movements and further expand defense cooperation, especially in the naval field,” Fahad noted.In mid-December, Lawrence Sellin, a retired US Army Reserve colonel, reported for the Daily Caller that high-ranking Chinese and Pakistani officials had met in Beijing to discuss future projects.Last June, a Pakistani diplomat said China’s help was needed as an “equalizer,” pointing to the naval base as all-but-inevitable. “Previously it was the US and Saudi Arabia… Now it’s China,” the diplomat told NBC. A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman later dismissed the report as “pure guesswork,” but now it seems the port will, in fact, be built.Experts have noted that India is keeping a close eye on the development of China-Pakistan relations. “China finds it very useful to use Pakistan against India and ignore India’s concerns, particularly on terrorism issues. That has created a lot of stress in the relationship between Beijing and Delhi,” Rajeev Ranan Chaturvedy, a researcher at the National University of Singapore, told SCMP.But “Indian naval capabilities and experience in the Indian Ocean region are fairly good — much better than Pakistan and China,” Chaturvedy said.

Media reports last week suggest that North Korea is undertaking preparations to launch its new Kwangmyongsong-5 Earth-observation satellite in the near future, possibly from a mobile transporter-erector-launcher (TEL).[1] An examination of commercial satellite imagery from November 23, December 25 and December 31 shows no indications of preparations for a new satellite launch mission at Sohae, where all satellite launches have taken place since 2012. There are, however, several indicators that suggest preparations for an upcoming rocket engine test at the facility’s vertical engine test stand.

A Rocket Engine Test Soon

Between November 23 and December 25, the rail-mounted environment shelter was moved from its position flush against the vertical engine test stand to the center of the concrete apron. Tire tracks are visible on the concrete apron and in front of the vehicle garage on both dates. While there appears to be no activity at the stand’s fuel/oxidizer bunkers, this absence of activity has not been a reliable indicator for rocket engine test preparations in the past. The exact reason for the recent movement of the environment shelter and the presence of tire tracks is unclear. As noted in previous reports, the shelter has been moved to its current position on the concrete apron either to permit the receipt and preparation of rocket engines prior to testing or to unload them after a test. Both color and near-infrared imagery, however, show no indications that an engine test has taken place since November 23, suggesting that if the current activity is test related, it is likely preparations for a future test. Alternative explanations for these activities include normal maintenance and repair or propaganda activity to reinforce recent official North Korean statements concerning space exploration and Kim Jong Un’s 2018 New Year’s address.